Five Springboks have been nominated for the SA Rugby Player of the Year for 2021.
Despite none featuring among the nominees for the Player of the Year award, five Springboks have been named in World Rugby’s Men’s 15s Dream Team of the Year on Wednesday.
Former British & Irish Lions coach Sir Ian McGeechan says the Springboks are too reliant on overseas-based players and that New Zealand is still the Test team to beat.
Damian Willemse, Marvin Orie and Salmaan Moerat are back in training with the Stormers and are all expected to be involved in Saturday’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship match against Zebre in Cape Town.
During a SuperSport studio chat, Nick Mallett said that World Rugby was correct to hand Rassie Erasmus a ban, but lamented the length of time the independent committee took to come to a decision.
The Springboks will finish the year with a nearly two-point lead over the second-placed All Blacks in the World Rugby rankings.
Marcus Smith kicked a 79th-minute penalty to give England a one-point win over the Springboks in a thrilling see-saw encounter at Twickenham on Saturday.
Gregor Townsend has accused Rassie Erasmus of ‘character assassination’ for instructing Springbok fullback Willie le Roux to target a Scotland player during last weekend’s Test at Murrayfield.
SA Rugby’s preliminary fixture list for 2022 has the Springboks down for four fixtures against Wales, while the SA ‘A’ team is also scheduled for two fixtures next year.
An independent committee has found SA Rugby director of rugby Rassie Erasmus guilty of misconduct towards match officials during the series between the Springboks and British & Irish Lions.